System for the electronic control of textile machines or for the manufacture of control strips for textile machines

ABSTRACT

A system for the electronic control of a multi-system machine, or for the manufacture of control strips for textile machines containing a storage system for color lines which are obtained by scanning a multi color design pattern and which contain in series form information about a given color of a standard design, and a storage unit inserted after the storage system for the continuous control of each system by step-wise read-out of the stored color lines, the system having the improvement of a storage system having storage means with variable information content during continuous machine operation whereby a number of color lines corresponding at least to the number of systems is storable and where each stored color line may be exchanged for a new one after processing of its information and a displacement means for generating the displacement of the storage lines so as to alter the sequence of each color line as a function of the machine.

United States Patent 11 1 Seitz 1 1 Dec.2,l975

I 1 SYSTEM FOR THE ELECTRONIC CONTROL OF TEXTILE MACHINES OR FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CONTROL STRIPS FOR TEXTILE MACHINES I75] Inventor: Helmut Seitz, Kaufbeuren, Germany I73] Assignee: Firma Franz Morat GmbH,

Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany 221 Filed: on. 15, 1973 1211 App|.No.:406,661

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No, 211513, Dec. 23. 1971,

abandoned [52] U.S. Cl .1 340/1725; 66/50 R; 66/154 A;

235/15 1.1 l [51] Int. CI. G06F 15/46 [58I Field of Search 340/172.5; 235/151.1 I; 66/154 A, 50 R [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,905,930 9/1959 Golden 340/1725 3,247 81S 4/1966 Polevitzky i. 112/79 $391,392 7/1968 Doyle u 340/1725 3,529,298 9/1970 Lourie 340/172.5 1670527 6/1972 Bourgeois a 66/154 A FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1194.731 6/1970 United Kingdom 66/25 Primary E.tuminer-M11rk E. Nusbaum [57] ABSTRACT A system for the electronic control of a multi-system machine, or for themanut'acture of control strips for textile machines containing a storage system for color lines which are obtained by scanning a multi color de sign pattern and which contain in series form information about a given color of a standard design and a storage unit inserted after the storage system for the continuous control of each system by stepwise readout of the storedicolor lines, the system having the improvement of a storage system having storage means with variable information content during continuous machine operation whereby a number of color lines corresponding at least to the number of systems is storable and where each stored color line may be exchanged for a new one after processing of its information and a displacement means for generating the displacement of the storage lines so as to alter the sequence of each color line as a function of the machine.

54 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures U.S. Patfint Dec. 2, 1975 Shaw of? 3,924,244

STORAGE MEANS F IG. 7

LOG PROCESSING CIRCUIT SCANNING 5 HEAD coolNe rg E coolNe 3 9 53 F I l r E 2 2 r i F ARTIST'S L 53 L Q J DRAWING) EsFLAEA||2T-1T I MEANS SAMPLE P INTER PATTERNS v R P l 7 7 2 L g g KNITTING CONTROL STRIP MACH'NE MANUFACTURING MEANS US. Patent Dec. 2, 1975 Sheet 2 of? 3,924,244

m i L m L IL 3 m 2 V. 1 y i IIIIIHL US. Patent Dec. 2, 1975 Sheet 3 of? 3,924,244

FIG. 3

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mw m mm m M, m. 3 M a 2 23m w m m m m 2% W 7 IFT REGISTE 3 LOGIC cmcun LUGIE CIRCUIT IFT REGISTER 51B 551 l /Y 52g EUDINB 6-D 5% STAGE R5 INFURMATIUN HIFTSLRBEGISTE E LOGIC Q01 SHIFT REEIS cnMPAfis un COUNTER H ULOR CUUNTER EEI US. Patent Dec. 2, 1975 Sheet 7 0f7 3,924,244

FIG. 7

hxs zm C0 SM7 STORAGE MP A MEANS] STQ /KGQS -\OUTPUT 5 0 4 6 H REGISTER 48 INPUT //'CORE REGISTER STORAGE ADDRESS IMITATOR? M/REG|STFR i 9 4 8 IDISPLACEMENT I 38 %%L::3L MEANS w i 1 SE L E C I T R Z (ADDRESS STAGE SYSTEM FOR THE ELECTRONIC CONTROL OF TEXTILE MACHINES OR FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CONTROL STRIPS FOR TEXTILE MACHINES This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 211,513, filed Dec. 23, 1971, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a method for electronically controlling a multi-system textile machine or a multisystem textile machine having control strips such as textile machines containing a storage system for color lines or rows which are obtained by scanning a multicolored standard design and which contain series information about a given color of the standard design. This invention further relates to a control unit inserted after the storage scheme for the purpose of a continuous control of each system of a multi-system textile machine by step-wise read-out of the stored colored lines.

Such methods as stated above are known, for example, from British Patent Nos. 1,160,897 and 1,112,599 for circular knitting machines. Their storage system is by means of a control film with a number of control tracks corresponding to the number of systems, the length of the control tracks corresponding to the size of the entire repeat system including the repetitions required for the needle cylinder revolution for knitting, and which are made up of markings each concerning a color and a line of the standard pattern. The control system scans the control film, and the required order of markings on the control film are provided for previous to film manufacture by placing the signals used for illumination of the control film in an appropriate manner with respect to each other.

A system which uses a punched card as a memory and which provides coded holes in lieu of the individual color points of the standard pattern is well known in the art. These holes are usually scanned during knitting by electrical scanner and the control occurs by means of counters determining precisely the position of the needle cylinder relative to the individual knitting systems during each scan, and in this manner those points of the punch card are reached which contain the desired information. If in this system a toroidal core memory is used in lieu of the punched cards, then the counters during each scan obtains the addresses under which the desired information is stored in the toroidal memory.

All known schemes suffer from the serious disadvantage of only permitting indirect control of the machines because the entire information content of the standard pattern first must be stored in a temporary memory storage. In other words, none of the known systems allow a direct control of the knitting machine during scanning of the standard pattern.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention deals with the task of providing a system of making it possible to have optional direct or indirect knitting machine control or control of any other textile machine at an operating frequency of about 500 Hz.

More particularly the present invention provides a storage system in a machine having a storage means connected to a variable information content during the continuous machine operation. A number of color lines corresponding in number to at least the number of systems used, and of a length corresponding to the width of the standard pattern, may be stored in this storage means and each stored color line may be exchanged against a new one after use of its information.

This invention thus rests on two essential characteristics. One of these consists of storing only color lines of lengths corresponding to the widths of repetitions. For example, it a circular knitting machine with 24 systems is to be controlled in four colors, then 24 color lines will be written into the storage after having been put in proper sequence. Then during a revolution of the needle cylinder these color lines are read out as often as required with respect to number of needles and width of repetitions. The other essential characteristic of this invention consists of exchanging each color line against a new one during machine operation after consumption of information content. In a preferred embodiment of this invention, the color line exchange takes place exactly when a revolution of the needle cylinder of the appropriate knitting machine system has been completed.

This invention provides the essential advantage that relatively large time intervals are available for the generation and ordering of the individual color lines, these intervals being for about the period of one revolution of the needle cylinder. Even if slow automatic scanners are used, it is possible with this system to monitor directly the required color lines from the scanning signals. If necessary, the color lines may be tapped from arbitrary temporary storages from the scanning signals. Appropriate systems such as disclosed in German Patent Application P 20643872 may be used.

In order to achieve proper speed of shifting or of the sequencing required for control, an example of execution of the invention is provided in which the series sequence of the information from each color line may be changed as a function of machine type. Thus the shift system may be a shift register the information output of which is connected to the information input. The system may be provided with counters by means of which an arbitrary number of the informations put into the shift registers in original sequence may be shifted further by an amount corresponding to the system intervals. Suitable shift registers are dynamic and static shift registers.

Preferred storages are shift registers, core storages, constant value storages, and the like, which are connected as series-parallel transducers,

A system selector and an imitator are provided for the adaptation of the system of the invention to various machines. The system selector determines when a color line from a given system is to be exchanged. The imitator, which may be in the form of a programming plug for different types of machines, adapts the system selector to the particular type of machine used.

The system of this invention is suited also for use in controlling a textile machine as for the manufacture of a control strip for such machines, for instance, the manufacture of a film or of a punched strip. Before the shifted information is relayed to the knitting machine at the beginning of a new pattern, or to the machine for the manufacture of a control strip, the storage must be completely filled. To that end, and according to a preferred form of operation of this invention, a full machine cycle, for instance one needle cylinder revolution, is simulated without relaying information. Nevertheless the possibility also exists to so fill the storage by proper logical control that it is full when the machine starts. A particular advantage is obtained in the manufacture of control strips, namely that one avoids the so called starting wedge and that the control strips need not be carried back and forth several times.

The objects and advantages of this invention will be more clearly understood from the drawings, wherein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagrammatical overview of the system of this invention.

FIGs. 2, 2a and 2b show diagrammatically the arrangement of the information on a magnetic tape which may be used as temporary storage for the scanning of signals received by the standard pattern.

FIGs. 3 and 4 show diagrammatically the required arrangement of the information in a circular knitting machine when the guiding marks are of different sizes.

FIG. 5 shows a temporary storage where the color lines are generated.

FIGS. 6, 6a and 612 show two forms of execution of the storage system, of the shift system and the corresponding control unit.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows in diagrammatic form the whole of a system according to this invention for automatic control of a knitting machine or for the manufacture of a control strip suitable for a knitting machine. The starting point is the so-called artists drawing 1, showing the smallest pattern, which reproduces regularly in the goods produced by the knitting machine, and therefore it is the size of the so-called repeat. The artists drawing 1 is drawn in several colors or shadings corresponding to various conditions of a textile nature, for instance, different colors or loop connections.

The artists drawing 1 will be scanned line by line by means of an opticalelectrical scanning head 2. The scanning signals so obtained will processed in a processing circuit 3 and then fed to a storage means 7 via a coding-decoding unit 4, a temporary storage 5 and a logic circuit 6, and in this manner they are permanently stored.

The information stored in storage means 7 may then be read out and be fed to a printer 9 via the logic circuit 6, the temporary storage 5 and the coding-decoding unit 4; the printer prints upon a graph paper and in that fashion it generates the sample pattern 10 corresponding to the artist's drawing but actually raster-like and consisting of many individual dots.

By comparison between the sample patterns 10 and the original artists drawing 1, one may observe whether the knitting pattern equivalent to the sample pattern 10 is optimal or whether further changes are required. Following execution of these changes, the content of the storage means is appropriately corrected. This may be repeated until the sample patterns 10 read out from the storage means are of precisely the desired shape.

When it has been determined that the stored infor mation leads to the desired sample patterns 10, the storage means 7 will be again read out. The read out information will be fed via the temporary storage either directly to a knitting machine 11 or to a means 12 for the manufacture of a control strip for the knitting machine.

A means 8 is required between the scanning head 2 and storage means 7, or between the scanning head 2 and printer 9, or between storage means 7 and knitting 4 machine 11 or means 12. Through means 8 the information scanned in the artists drawing 1 or from the sample patterns 10 will be so arrayed as needed for the knitting process. This arrangement or shifting of information is termed *displacement" in the textile industry.

Scanning in the artists conception 1 or in the sample patterns 10 takes place line by line, so that each scanned line provides an information block, each of which consisting of at least as many words as there are points in the scanned line. If for instance an un-rastered line from the artist's drawing is to have a knitting row with 240 loops, then each information block will contain 240 words concerning the scanned colors. Furthermore each information block may also be provided with special symbols such as end of line or addresses.

Color information thus may be obtained by means of a scanning head 2 and a processing circuit 3, according to the British Patent Nos. l,l70,947 and 1,190,093. The signals at the output of the processing circuit 3 are fed to the coding-decoding unit 4, where one binary encoded word corresponds to each color. Thus if there are four colors, color 1 may be binary l 1, color 2 may be 10, color 3 may be 01 and color 4 may be 00. To increase reliability, parity bits may be used and/or words may be redundant.

The scanned signals obtained in the artists drawing preferably are stored on a magnetic tape 701 (FIG. 2- 2a-2b), the recording of the information so proceeding that a knitting machine operating at, about 500 Hz, may be directly controlled by the magnetic tape 701.

FIG. 2 describes the magnetic tape 701 block by block with each information block 703 containing all of the information concerning a line in the artists drawing 1. The information blocks 703 are continuously numbered from 1 to y in FIG. 2, in order to show their actual sequence. Thus in a forward motion (arrow V) of the magnetic tape 703, the first half 1 through y/2 of all information blocks is recorded, whereas the second half yl2+1 through y of the information blocks will be recorded when in reverse (arrow R). A special symbol is recorded at the end of each information block, meaning end of line" in the information blocks 1 through y/2 -1 and from 7/2+l to y-l, and always indicating the end of a line in the artists drawing (ZE-symbol 705 in FIG. 2a). A special symbol appearing at the end of the recorded information block y/2 in forward motion signifies that half of all the symbols of the artists conception have been scanned or that the corresponding information blocks 703 have been recorded. This special symbol is denoted as the first y/Z sym bol," and its corresponding signal as the y/2 signal. Finally, still another symbol 709 (FIG. 2a) appears at the end of the last information block y, symbol 709 corresponding to the y/2 symbol in coding, and indicating that now all lines of the artists drawing have been scanned, or that all pertinent information blocks have been recorded. This special symbol is denoted as the second y/Z symbol."

The break-down of magnetic tape 701 tracks may therefore be illustrated as below:

Forward motion Track I Track 3 Track 5 Back motion Track 2 Track 4 Track 6 Color I l I l Color 2 I l] l Color 3 O I l Color 4 (l U l ZE l l 0 -continued y/2 0 Thus each color information or special symbol has a three digit binary coded word in this four-color artists drawing. The bit number may be appropriately increased for scanning of more than four colors, hence more than six tracks would be required on the magnetic tape.

If the repeat and therefore the artists drawing or the sample patterns consist of an uneven number, than an empty block 713 (FIG. 2) will be recorded at a given spot on the magnetic tape 701. This empty block, which is the first scanned information block during back motion of the magnetic tape, is characterized by having no information in any track whatever.

During read-out the storage scheme 7 is preferably so operated start/stop that the magnetic tape drive is engaged by the start signal and discontinued by read-out from a ZE or y/2 symbol. It follows that upon starting the tape, a complete information block 703 will be read out and the tape will be stopped upon the read-out of the ZE or y/Z symbol appearing at the end. Further, each y/2 symbol effects switching the tape from forward to backward motion, or vice-versa. The magnetic tape is provided to that purpose with an internal switch controlled by the y/2 signal generated from a y/2 symbol during read-out.

When the information located on the magnetic tape 703 is used for direct control of the knitting machine 11, its components must be shifted or displaced with respect to each other. The kind of displacement, which is described, for instance, in the British Patent No. 1,160,897, depends on the size of the repeat on the number of knitting machine needles in the direction of the lines and on the number of colors used.

FIG. 3 assumes a circulatory knitting machine with 1680 cylinder needles and a repeat of 1680 needles, that is, the latter comprises the samples patterns 10 of 1680 raster points per line, and each information block 703 contains 1680 color informations. Let it further be assumed that knitting shall be done with four colors and that there are 24 knitting systmes in the circulatory knitting machine. This means that four systems partcipate in the formation of every loop row, for instance systems I, V, IX, XIII, XVII, XXI for color 1, systems II, VI, X, XIV, XVIII, XXII for color 2, systems III, VII, XI, XV, XIX,'XXIII for color 3 and systems IV, VIII, XII, XVI, XX and XXIV for color 4. A magnetic control system SM 1 through SM 24 belongs to each system and selects the needles. The magnetic control systems SM 1 through SM 24, such as are known from the British Patent No. 1,] 12,5 99, are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 in the first left-hand column. Finally, let it be assumed that the spacing between two magnetic control systems, expressed in cylinder needles, is either 67 or 68 or 135 cylinder needles and that according to FIG. 3, column R, the case applies, in which the first cylinder needle is within the range of the magnetic control system SM 1, the l6l4th needle within that of magnetic control system 2, the l547th needle within that of magnetic control system SM 4, the 141 3th needle within that of magnetic control system SM 5, etc., the 203rd needle within that of magnetic control system SM 23 and finally the 136th needle within that of magnetic control system SM 24. In other words, at the first stroke or triggering of the needle cylinder revolution the first needle 6 may be in front of the magnetic control system SM 1, at the 68th stroke in front of the magnetic control system SM 2, at the th stroke in front of the magnetic control system SM 3, etc. and at the 1546th stroke in front of the magnetic control system SM 24.

Since in the case of four-color knitting the magnetic control systems SM 14 participate in the formation of the first loop row, the magnetic control systems Sm 5-8 to that of the second loop row, etc., and that consequently six loop rows are produceed per machine revolution, corresponding to six lines of the artists drawing 1 or to the sample patterns 10, it is necessary to feed during the first machine revolution the 1680 informations corresponding to colors 14 and stored in the first information block 703 to the first four magnetic control systems SM 1-4, etc., and to feed the 1680 informations stored in the sixth infonnation block and corresponding to the colors l-4 to the last four magnetic control systems SM l-24. Similarly, during the second full machine revolution, the informations contained in the seventh information block must be fed to the first four magnetic control systems SM 14, etc., and the in formations contained in the 12th information block must be fed to the control magnetic systems SM 21-24. When the repeat is finished height-wise, that is, when all information blocks 703 have been used up, the repeat must be repeated in the same fashion, that is, the informations from the first information block 703 again must be fed to the first four magnetic control systems SM 1-4.

With the individual magnetic control systems SM l-24 being spaced a given number of needles apart, the informations contained in the information blocks must be displaced with respect to each other or delayed. Thus the first needle may only be selected by one of the first four magnetic control systems. If the first loop must be knitted in color 3, then the first information block's first word corresponds to 011 (see FIG. 2a). This information or the control signal corresponding to this information however is not allowed to intervene during the first machine stroke because the first needle at that time is still within the range of the magnetic control system SM 1. As shown by FIG. 3, the first needle will only come within range of the magnetic control system SM 3 upon the 135th machine stroke, and therefore the signal corresponding to the word 011 must be delayed until it can be fed to the magnetic control system SM 3 only during the 135th machine stroke.

Column R of FIG. 3 shows which information is to be fed to the individual magnetic control systems during the first stroke of a needle cylinder revolution. The numbers listed in column R always refer to the nth information from an information block. In particular, if one were to deal with the magnetic control systems SM 2-4, it would be information from the first information block 703; if it were about the magnetic control systems SM 5-8, it would be information from the second information block, etc, and information from the sixth information block for the magnetic control systems SM 21-24; for the magnetic control system SM 1 it would already be the first information from the seventh information block.

Similarly, FIG. 4 shows the individual magnetic control systems receiving individual informations for the case of a repeat with 240 meshes in the direction of the lines and therefore repeating seven times precisely for each machine revolution. In this case, according to column R, the 174th, 107th or 40th information from the first information block holding 240 informations must be fed to the magnetic control systems SM 2-4, and the 203rd or 136th information from the sixth information block holding 240 inforrnations must be fed to the two magnetic control systems SM 23 and 24, when the first information from the 7th information block is being fed to the magnetic control system SM 1.

When another repeat size is used, or if there are fewer or more than 4 colors, or with a knitting machine of fewer or more than 24 magnetic control systems or fewer or more than 1680 needles, the displacement changes accordingly. Therefore a system by means of which the described displacement of the informations may be performed automatically is only significant if applicable to many diverse knitting machines and many different repeat sizes without excessive alterations.

A displacement means 8 will be first described below by means of FIGS. 5, 6a and 6b, which for the sake of simplification in exposition show a number of shift registers as temporary registers between the storage means 7 and the magnetic control means SM 1-24 of the knitting machine. Thereafter, as seen from FIG. 7, a displacement means 8 will be described which is similar in principle but uses a core storage in lieu of a shift register.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, a temporary storage and a logic circuit 6 follow the storage means 7. The information located on tracks 1, 3, 5 or 2, 4, 6 (FIGS. 2a, 2b) are fed to the logic circuit 6 during read-out of the magnetic tape 70]. The information is decoded and then is fed to the information inputs of two shift registers 501, 503 or 505, 507. When the coding shown in FIGS. and 2b is used, the outputs of the reading heads scanning the tracks 1,3 or 2,4 might be fed via amplifiers and/or normalizing switches, also directly to the information inputs of the shift registers 501, 503, 505 and 507. AND circuits 509, 511, 513 and 515, succeeded by OR circuits 510, 512, 514 and 516, are inserted between the logic circuit 6 and the shift register inputs, the second inputs of the AND circuits 509 and 511 being connected to the output 01 of a flip-flop 517, but the second inputs of the AND circuits 513 and 517 being connected to the output 02 of flip-flop 517. The trigger input of flip-flop S17 is connected to the output of color counter 519.

The outputs from shift registers S01 and 503, or 505 and 507 on one hand are connected via AND circuits 518, 520 and the OR circuits 510, 512, 514, 516 to their own information inputs, and on the other hand to the inputs of a logic circuit 13 of which the outputs are connected to an output terminal F (color signals) via an OR circuit 16. Each logic circuit 13 is controlled by a coding stage 14 the inputs of which are connected to a junction terminal FZE (color-Line-End) and with the output of a pre-select switch 521. The output of preselect switch 521 is also connected to an adjustable input of color counter 519. The second inputs of the AND circuits 518 are located at O2 output, but those of the AND circuits 520 at the 01 output, of flip-flop 517.

The trigger inputs of shift registers 501 and 503 are connected to the outputs of three AND circuits 525, 527 and 529 via an OR circuit 523, but the trigger inputs of shift registers 505 adn 507 are connected to the outputs of three AND circuits 533, 535 and 537 via an OR circuit 531. One of the inputs of the AND circuits 525, S and 537 is connected to the output Q1 of flipflop 517, but one of the inputs of the AND circuits 527,

529 and 533 is connected to the output 02 of flip-flop 517. The second input of the AND circuits 525 and 533 is connected to the output of an OR circuit 539, of which one input is connected to the RS (read strobe) output of storage scheme 7 and of which the other input is connected to the output of an AND circuit 541. The second input of the AND circuits 527 and 535 is connected to the output of an AND circuit 543, but the second input of the AND circuits 529 and 537 is connected directly to a junction terminal TA (trigger connection). One of the inputs of the AND circuits 541, 543 is connected to the output of a timing generator 545, but the other input of those AND circuits is connected to the output Q2 of a flip-flop 547 or 549.

A comparison counter 551 is hooked up in parallel with shift registers 501 and 503, the synchronization input of the comparison counter 551 being connected to the output of the OR circuit 523. A comparison counter 553 is hooked up in parallel with shift registers 50S and 507, the synchronizing input of the comparison counter being connected to the output of the OR circuit 531. On one hand the output of comparison counter 551 leads to its reset input R and on the other to the input S1 of flip-flop 547 via an AND circuit 555 and an OR circuit 557; the input S2 of flip-flop 547 is connected to output ZE, y/2 of the storage scheme 7. On one hand the output from the comparison counter 553 leads to its reset input R and on the other side to the other input of an OR circuit 557 via an AND circuit 559. lnput S1 of flip-flop 549 is connected with the output of comparison counter 551 via OR circuit 561 and AND circuit 563, and furthermore to the output of the comparison counter 553 via OR circuit 561 and AND circuit 565. Junction terminal FZE is the input S2 of the flip-flop.

Finally, the output of the comparison counter 551 is hooked up to a junction terminal ST (Start) via an AND circuit 567 and also to the input S1 of flip-flop 569. The output Q2 of this flip-flop is hooked up to the other input of the AND circuit 567, whereas its input S2 is hooked up to a switch 18 that in turn is also connected to the Start" input of the storage scheme 7 via an OR circuit 20. The other input of the OR circuit 20 is connected to the output A of the color counter 519, the input of which, E, is the junction terminal FZA (Color-Line-Beginning).

The basic function of the temporary storage 5 according to the invention consists in resolving each information block into several information blocks, the so-called color lines," which each time belong only to a very definite color. This is achieved by first displacing a complete information block 703 into the shift registers 501, 503 or 505, 507, and then reading-out each shift register several times in succession, the informations appearing at the output being further fed back to the input and thus being read-in again.

If for example one were to deal with a four-colored knitting pattern, then the pre-select switch 521 will be set for the presence of four colors. If an information block is transferred into the shift registers 501, 503, then these shift registers will be questioned four times in succession. The logic circuit 13 is adjusted to color 1 via the pre-select switch 521 during the first questioncycle. It follows that for synchronized interrogation of shift registers 501, 503, a signal will only appear at the output of the logic circuit 13 when the interrogated information corresponds to color 1. There will be no signal for information corresponding to colors 2 through 4. All interrogated information will be returned to the shift registers via their return loops.

Following a complete interrogation cycle, the coding stage 14 will be so adjusted by a FZE signal (Color- Line-End), that the logic circuit 13 now is decoded for color 2 and hence output signals will only appear during the next interrogation cycle if information corresponding to color 2 is interrogated. After four interrogation cycles the information block located in the shift registers is resolved into four successive color lines which contain just as much information as a complete information block. As contrasted to their coding in the information block, these inforrnations are so characterized as to consist of a l for each color pertinent to this color line and of a O for all other colors. Each color line belongs to a given magnetic control system SM 1-24 of the knitting machine 11, these magnetic control systems being fed a control signal only and only if their proper color is to be knitted.

The full mode of operation of the temporary storage will be explained later in connection with FIGS. 6a and 6b, which show a displacement scheme according to the invention, where the binding posts shown at the bottom of FIG. 6b are connected to the binding posts corresponding to them and shown at the top of HG. 6a. The binding posts shown at the bottom of FIG. 6a however are hooked up to corresponding binding posts of the temporary storage as in FIG. 5 or with corresponding binding posts of a knitting machine not shown.

As shown in FIG. 6a, the binding post ST of temporary storage 5 leads to the start" input of a simulator 801 simulating a synchronizer that may be set for the frequency of the knitting machine to be controlled. By knitting machine frequency" it is understood the number of cylinder needles passing a fixed point in a second. However the frequency of simulator 801 is intrinsically arbitrarily selectable. The output of simulator 801 leads to the inputs E of a machine trigger counter 804 via an OR circuit 802 the input of which is connected to a binding post MT (machine trigger) and a delay stage 803, and further it leads to a repeat-counter 805, and also to the input E of a displacement counter 807 via an OR circuit 806. The machine trigger counter 804 is set for the number of needles of the knitting machine, say, 1680, and thus always produces a signal at its output after a full revolution has been completed. The repeat counter 805 is set for the repeat size in the direction of the lines, that is, for the number of raster points (for instance 240) of the sample patterns 10. The repeat counter 805 is set at its input RZ (Raster point number) which is connected to a binding post RZ. The binding post RZ leads to a pre-select switch, which is not shown, that can be set manually for the repeat width. Further, the output of OR circuit 802 is connected to the binding post SMT (Simulation or machine trigger).

The repeat counter 805 is connected to an appropriate terminal V of the displacement counter 807 via its junction V, the counter 807 being decoded via the binding post RZ for the same number as repeat counter 805. Further, the displacement counter 807 is provided with an input S. When a signal is fed into this input, the displacement counter 807 will be set into the same counter position, via connections V, as the repeat counter 805. The repeat counter 805 and the displacement counter 807 always produce a signal at their outputs A when the number set via RZ has been reached.

On one hand the output A of the displacement counter 807 is connected to the input S1 of a flip-flop 808 and, via a reversal stage 809 and an AND circuit 810, to the input S2 of flip-flop 808, and on the other hand, the output is connected, via an AND circuit 811 and an OR circuit 812, to the input S2 of a flip-flop 813. The output Q1 of flip-flop 808 leads to the set" input S of displacement counter 807, to the other input of the OR circuit 812, and to a binding post S. The output Q2 of flip-flop 808 is connected to the other input of the OR circuit 806 via an AND circuit 814, and to the synchronizing input of a displacement shift register 816 via a further OR circuit 815; the information input of the shift register 816 is connected via an OR circuit 817 with its information output and also to a binding post F. Finally, the output of the displacement shift register 816 leads to a binding post VS. The output of the reversal stage 809 leads to a binding post VZ which indicates a signal only when there is none at output A of the displacement counter 807. The displacement shift register is provided with an adjustable number of storage cells. Adjustment to the repeat width, for example 240, is achieved through the terminal RZ. Such adjustable shift registers for short storage times are within the state of the art. lf longer storage times are desired, each length of the displacement shift register 816 may be set selectively by means of programming plugs. The displacement shift register may be of a dynamic or static kind.

Another input of the OR circuit 815 is connected to the output of an AND circuit 819, one of whose inputs is connected to the output 02 of flip-flop 813. The other inputs of the AND circuits 814 and 819 are connected to a terminal TG which in turn is connected to the output of a synchronizer 820. Further, the output of this synchronizer 820 is connected to a terminal TA via an AND circuit 822 and a delay stage 823. The output from the AND circuit 822 also leads to a third input of OR circuit 815.

The output A from the machine trigger counter 804 is connected to the stop input of simulator 801 and to the input S2 of a flip-flop 824, and by means of a clearing key not shown, the flip-flop 824 may be set on its output Q1; its Q2 output is connected to a terminal SSM.

Finally the output of the AND circuit 822 is connected to the input E of a trigger counter 825, which is adjustable to the repeat width by means of its connection RZ. The output A of the trigger counter 825, which is also connected to its re-set input E, on one hand leads to the other input of the AND circuits 810 and 811, and on the other hand leads to the terminal FZE and to the input S1 of a flip-flop 826; the output 02 of flip-flop 826 is connected to the second input of the AND circuit 822 and to the binding post FZA.

The output of the AND circuit 819 is connected to the input E of SR counter 827 (shift register comparison counter) and to a terminal post SRE (SR counter input) belonging to that input. The SR counter always counts the trigger signals which are connected to the shift registers further described below in FIG. 6b. Output A of the Sr counter is connected with its reset input R and with a binding post SRA (SR counter output), the latter also being connected to the input S1 of flip-flop 813.

A further terminal V is connected to the junctions V of counters 805 and 807. The reset inputs R of these counters on one hand are connected to output A of the 1 1 repeat counter 805 and on the other hand to the output A of the machine trigger counter 804, both via an OR circuit 828.

Essential components of the displacement scheme 8 so far described are a knitting machine imitator 829 and a system selector 830 connected to the output of the delay stage 803. imitator 829 may have the form of a programming plug. Its purpose is to imitate precisely the particular knitting machine with respect to the spacings within its systems expressed in terms of the number of needles.

System selector 830 is connected to the imitator 829 by means of plugs or the likes. The number of its outputs corresponds to the number of maximum possible systems of the knitting machine. In the example of execution shown, it is assumed that a knitting machine with a maximum of 24 systems may be used, so that the system counter 830 is provided with outputs 1 through 24. Those outputs, of which only three are shown, on one hand are connected terminal junctions SW (system choice) via leads 831 and on the other to the input S2 of flip-flop 826 via a common OR circuit 832 and another OR circuit 833 thereafter. The other input of the OR circuit 833 is located at the junction ST.

On grounds that will be clear further below, the function of the machine trigger counter 804, of the imitator 829 and of the system selector 830 is to create an identical imitation of the knitting machine to be used. Thus the outputs of the system selector 830 may be the outputs of AND circuits which are so conditioned by imitator 829 that upon appearance of the 67th trigger signal from the OR circuit 802 at the second output, that upon appearance of the l34th trigger signal at the third output, that upon appearance of the 201st trigger signal at the fourth output, etc., and that upon appearance of the 1S45th trigger signal at the 24th output or upon the appearance of the l680th trigger signal at the first output, a stationary output exists for a trigger signal, whereas for theappearance of any other trigger signal no signal appears at any of the outputs 1 through 24. To that purpose the imitator 829 may be provided with counting stages which may be assigned by plugging into the desired inputs.

The trigger signals from the OR circuit 802 are either generated by simulator 801 or else obtained from the terminal junction MT. The junction MT is connected to a synchronizer of the knitting machine, not shown, which for instance might generate a trigger signal every time a needle passes a given point, as for instance for a circulatory knitting machine with rotating needle cylinders. Such trigger generators are known such as from British Pat. No. 1,1 12,599 since they were already used for purposes of synchronization or control.

One achieves, by imitating as described the knitting machine, that for each counting cycle of the machine trigger counter 804, that is, during a needle cylinder revolution of the knitting machine, each effective output 1 through 24 of the system selector 830 is precisely set on 1 once. The spacings separating the outputs 1 through 24 of the system selector 830 and in which they successively are made 1 are identical with the system spacings expressed the number of needles and expressed in the number of generated triggers from the OR circuit 802. According to the invention, the system selector 830 preferably is so constructed as to be provided with 48 or 96 outputs of which however only so many are effective, depending on imitator 829 as are required for the control of the particular knitting machine.

According to FIG. 6b, the outputs 1-24 of the system selector 830 lead via the junction SW to correspond' ingly many junction points SW1, SW2-SW24, of which only three are shown in FIG. 6b. The junction points SW1, SW2 and SW24 are connected to the trigger inputs of shift registers 847, 848 and 849 via the AND circuits 841, 842 and 843 and the OR circuits 844, 845 and 846 thereafter. When the other input of the AND circuit 853 is properly conditioned by the output Q2 of a flip-flop 855, whose input S2 is located at the output S of the position counter 850, and input S1 at output A, TG signals from the TG terminals will be fed to those trigger inputs and to a parallel connected position counter 850 with respect to a trigger input, via a delay stage 851 and an OR circuit 852, also the SMT signals from the junction terminal SMT and via the AND circuit 853 and the OR circuit 852. Output A is also connected to the reset input R of the position counter 850.

The purpose of the position counter 850 is to determine precisely the location of the information in the shift registers 847, 848 and 849, and to see to it, that there be information at the output of the shift registers 847, 848 and 849 for each SMT trigger, and this independently of the number of storage cells in the shift registers and independently of repeat width.

Either the information from the VS terminal of the displacement shift register 816 (FIG. 6a) or the interrogated information obtained at each trigger from the shift registers 847, 848 and 849, may be fed via the OR circuits 856, 857 and 858 in a circulatory manner back to the information inputs 847, 848 and 849. AND circuits 860, 861 and 862 are inserted between the OR circuits 856, 857 and 858 and the junction terminal VS, the second inputs of the AND circuits being connected each to one of the junction points SW1, SW2 SW24. Furthermore, AND circuits 863, 864 and 865 are inserted between the information outputs of the shift registers 847, 848 and 849 and the OR circuits 856, 857 and 858. The second inputs of those AND circuits are connected to the outputs of AND circuits 869, 870 and 871 via the inverting stages 866, 867 and 868. One half of those inputs of AND circuits are connected to each of the junction points SW1, SW2 SW24; the other half of those inputs of the AND circuits are connected to the output Q1 of a flip-flop 872, whose input S1 is connected to the output A of a circulatory counter 873. The ring counter 873 is provided with a comparison input V and a set input S connected to junction post S. The count input E of the ring counter 873 is connected to the output of an AND circuit 874 whose input is connected to the output Q2 of flip-flop 872 and whose other input leads to the binding post TO.

The input S2 of flip-flop 872 is located at an AND circuit 875 whose input is located at the junction post VZ, its remaining input being located at the terminal SRA. The output of the AND circuit 874 leads via an OR circuit 876 to the second inputs of the AND circuits 841, 842 and 843. A further input of the OR circuit 876 is connected to the junction SRE.

The ring counter 873 is meant to determine the number of those informations which are being shifted at a given time in circulation in the shift registers 847, 848 and 849. The ring counter is always being decoded at that number, by means of a signal from the terminal S, which corresponds to the instantaneous counting of the repeat counter 805. If for instance the repeat counter shows an instantaneous count of 120, then the ring counter will not count from I to the highest adjustable number, say, 520, but only up to 120. The number for which an output signal will appear thus will be obtained each time prior to start of counting cycle by comparison with the counter 805.

The outputs of the shift registers 847, 848 and 849 are located after the AND circuits 877, 878 and 879, of which the other inputs are connected to the junction SMT and the outputs of which lead to the magnetic control systems SMl, SM2 SM24 of the knitting machine via any amplifiers or standardizing circuit there may be.

FIG. 5 shows the temporary storage 5 and FIGS. 60 and 6b describe the displacement means 8, both of which function as follows:

At the beginning of a control operation, the needle cylinder of the knitting machine is at rest, and no information is held by the shift registers 847, 848 and 849 (FIG. 6b), the outputs of which are connected to the magnetic control systems, and therefore no control signals may reach any of the control magnetic systems when there is sudden start.

Hence, according to the invention, first all shift registers are filled with information in the proper order, during a simulated revolution of the needle cylinder. Only thereafter will a start signal be fed to the knitting machine, and this initiates the knitting process. If one assumes a circular knitting machine with rotating needle cylinders, 1680 cylinder needles and an operating frequency of 500 Hz, then by a simulated revolution of the needle cylinder by means of simulator 801 (FIG. 6a) and for a needle cylinder at rest, I680 trigger signals will be generated with a repetition frequency of 500 Hz. Upon the I680th pulse from simulator 801 the rotation of the needle cylinder is begun and the operation of simulator 801 is interrupted, so that the l681st pulse and all further pulses will be generated by the synchronizer of the circulatory knitting machine. During the I680th simulated trigger pulse, the shift registers 847, 848 and 849 are so filled that when the OR circuit 802 sends the l682st trigger signal, the information needed for knitting will be available at the shift registers outputs.

Prior to the control processes, all flip-flops are set on their outputs Q1 by depressing a clearing key (not shown). Then the diverse counters are put into operation, it being assumed that one is dealing as in FIG. 4 with a repeat of 240 loops in the direction of the lines, and that the diverse systems of the circulatory knitting machine are spaced as shown in FIG. 3. The machine trigger counter 804 is set for the number of 1680, that is, the number of needles. Repeat counter 805, displacement counter 807, TA counter 825 and output B of the position counter 850 are put into operation via the junction R2 and set for the number of raster points or the repeat width, namely 240. In this manner and via the junction R2, the displacement shift register 816 is set for a length of 240 storage cells. All the shift registers shown in FIGS. 5, 6a and 6b are provided with as many storage cells as there are repeat widths that can be processed, and arbitrarily so up to certain limits. It is assumed in the example under consideration that the maximum number of storage cells is 520. Consequently the comparison counters 551, 553 (FIG. 5) and the SR counter 827 are permanently adjusted for this figure of 520. Finally the ring counter 873 may be optimally de- 14 coded for the figure of 520, however its decoding depends each time upon the instantaneous count of the repeat counter 805.

The pre-selector 521 (FIG. 5) is set for the number of colors, for example 4, whereby the color counter 519 emits an output signal upon the appearance of the first, fifth, ninth, thirteenth etc. signal which is fed in via the junction FZA. This furthermore conditions the coding stage 14 for four colors, so that the logic circuit 13 is being inverted by the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. FZE signal after recognition of those informations belonging to the colors 2, 3, 4, l, 2 etc.

Finally the appropriate imitator 829 (FIG. 6a) is inserted, that imitates a circulatory knitting machine with 1680 needles and the system spacings shown in FIG. 3, so that a stationary signal appears at the outputs 2, 3, 4, 5, 23, 24 and l of the system selector 830 for the 67th, 134th, 201st, 268th 1478th, I545th and I680th trigger.

Next the control process is initiated by depressing the start key 18 (FIG, 5), whereby on one hand the AND circuit 567 is being conditioned and on the other the tape drive of the storage scheme 7 is being switched on. The color information contained in the first information block 703 of the magnetic tape 70] is being offered to the information inputs of the shift registers 501 and 503 by the tape carriage (motion), while flip-flop 517 is being set on output O]. For the same reason the trigger pulses from the RS output of the storage scheme 7 are being fed only to the trigger inputs of shift registers 501, 503 and to those of the comparison counter 55]. The so-called read-strobe" signals appear at the RS output of the storage scheme 7, which may always be generated when using commercial magnetic control instruments when a l is contained in any of the read ofitracks of the magnetic tape 701; according to FIG. 2a, this is the case for every stored possible information.

After placing a complete information block of 240 informations into the shift registers 501, 503, the flipflop 547 will be set on output 02 by the special symbol ZE, whereby the triggers from synchronizer 545, for example 40 KHz, are released via the AND circuit 541, the triggers shifting at high speed the information in shift registers 501, 503 to the end of the registers. When the 520th storage cell has been reached, the comparison counter 55] sends a signal to reset itself and switches off the high speed triggers via flip-flop 547.

The signal emitted by the comparison counter 551 is further fed via the AND circuit 567 to the junction ST, which results in resetting the flip-flop 569, in starting simulator 801, in setting the flip-flop 826 output on Q2, this being done via the junction ST as shown in FIG. 6a, so that a FZA signal is obtained. In FIG. 6a, the FZA signal ensures that the triggers from synchronizer 820 are fed to junction TA via a delay circuit 823. In FIG. 5, the FZA signal ensures that color counter 519 emits an output signal which, on one hand sets the flip-flop 517 output on Q2, and on the other hand initiates a new start of the magnetic tape drive.

Therefore, there are two parallel processes below, which do not influence each other. One of these processes is the TA signals, for example lMHz, are fed via the AND circuit 529 to the trigger inputs of shift registers 501, 503 and of the comparison counter 55], so that a signal I will only appear at the output of the pertinent logic circuit 13 when an information corresponding to the color 1 appears at the output of shift registers 501, 503. At the same time, the 240 interrogated informations will be fed via the return loop to the information input of shift registers 501, 503 and they will be read in again, the AND circuits 518 having been appropriately prepared.

Since the TA signals will be counted by the TA counter 825 (FIG. 6a) and since the latter is set for the repeat width, triggering will terminate precisely after 240 triggers, that is, after the first full interrogation cycle, via flip-flop 826 (FIG. 6a). At the same time a FZE signal will be emitted, which, according to FIG. 5, on one hand so transposes the logic circuit 13 via the coding stage 14 so that only color 2 information will be interrogated during the next interrogation cycle, and on the other hand releases the triggers from the synchronizer 545 via flip-flop 549 and through the AND circuit 543. These high speed triggers are fed via the AND circuit 527 to the trigger inputs of the shift registers 501, 503 and to those of the comparison counter 551, until again the 240 informations in the shift registers have been displaced towards the end and till the comparison counter 551 emits an output signal.

The information of the first color line, or the F signals, which appear at the output of logic circuit 13, are fed to the information input of the displacement shift register 816 via the junction F as shown in FIG. 6a.

The processes now taking place in the displacement shift register will not be explained in further detail because they are not terminated during this first interrogation cycle. The reason is that during the first interrogation cycle no output of the system counter 830 is being decoded and therefore no information located in the displacement shift register 816 can be fed to any of the shift registers 847, 848 849 in FIG. 6b.

As previously mentioned, another process runs parallel and simultaneously to the just described interrogation cycle. Thus, a new start of the magnetic tape 701 is initiated by the output signal of the color counter 519. Meantime, flip-flop 517 being in the condition of output 02, the information from the second information block 703 is now being displaced into the shift registers 505 and 507. Again the high speed triggering of synchronizer 545 is released by the ZE symbol belong ing to the second information block, until the information block reaches the end of the shift registers 505, 507. Circulation of information is blocked, since the AND circuits have not been prepared.

The described scheme remains quiescent until the 67th trigger signal of simulator 801. The 67th simulator trigger signal decodes output 2 of the system selector 830 via the delay stage 803, so that on one hand flipflop 826 is set in state 02 and on the other hand the AND circuits 842, 861 and 870 connected to junction SW2 (FIG. 6b) are being prepared. Reversing the flipflop 826 entails the second F ZA signal s appearance, which releases the TA triggers, though it does not effect any output signals at the color counter 519.

Because of the TA triggers, the information block located in the shift registers 501 and 503 is being interrogated a second time and is again being fed to the input of those shift registers. Since the prior FZE signal caused a reversal of the coding stage 14 towards color 2, l signals will only then appear at the output of logic circuit 13 when the color 2 is recognized. The sequence of signals appearing at the output of logic circuit 13 and covering 240 TA pulses, makes up the second color line, which will be placed via junction F into the dis- 16 placement shift register 816. This process is terminated by the output signal from the TA counter 825 with the generation of a FZE signal which sets the coding stage 14 on color 3 and which again puts flip-flop 549 in state Q2.

The 67th trigger of the simulator brings those counters related to it to the counting position 67. Accordingly the displacement counter 807 shows 0 at its output A and the AND circuit 810 is readied, via the inverting stage 809, so that the signal FZE appearing at the end of the second interrogation cycle sets the flipflop 808 in state Q2. This also prepares the AND circuit 814, so that the pulses generated by the synchronizer 820 are directly fed into the trigger input of the displacement shift register 816.

During that time interval in which flip-flop 808 is in state Q2, the shift registers 847, 848 and 489 (FIG. 6b) may receive no TA signals, since neither the AND circuit 874 nor the AND circuit 853 is prepared. Therefore the informations in the displacement shift register 816 are being displaced only in a circulatory manner, and by so many places as correspond to the difference between the instantaneous position of the repeat counter 805 and the repeat width. Since the instantaneous position of the repeat counter 805 and hence that of displacement counter 807 is equal to 67 and since the repeat width is 240, a displacement of 240-67 173 triggers occurs in the displacement shift register 816.

The trigger impulses fed into the trigger input of the displacement shift register 816 are also fed into the input of the displacement counter 807 which is exactly at the number 67 at the time. When due to counting to 240 an output signal does appear, flip-flop 808 will be set back to state ()1, whereby the circulation is terminated in the displacement shift register 816 and an S signal is being generated which brings back the displacement counter 805 to the counting position 67 by comparison with the repeat counter 805 and which decodes at 67 the circulatory counter 873 by comparing it with the Rapport counter.

Since 0 is generated meantime and again at the output of the displacement counter 807, the output of the inverting stage 809 again is l, which Vpzrepares the AND circuit 875 (FIG. 6b) via the leads Because of the S signal from output Q1 of flip-flop 808, flip-flop 813 will be set in state Q2, sometimes after a short delay, whereby the trigger signals generated by the synchronizer 820 reach, via the AND circuit 819, as well the trigger input of the displacement shift register 816 as (via junction SRE) the trigger inputs of shift register 848, and at the same time the AND circuit 842 is being prepared by the decoding of the output 2 of the system selector 830.

The informations located in the displacement shift register 8 16 therefore will be shifted into the shift register 848 in the sequence generated by the displacement. During this phase, circulation in shift register 848 is blocked, and a 0 appears at the input of the AND circuit 864. This entails that an information already located in the shift register 848 can not be shifted around. When the color line reaches the end of the shift register, that is, the 520th storage cell, the SR counter 827, which is counting the SRE signals, emits an output signal which sets back flip-flop 813 and so switches off the trigger pulses, which resets the SR counter 827 and which, via junction SRA and the prepared AND circuit 875 (FIG. 6a), sets flip-flop 872 into stage Q2. Due to 17 this measure, further TA pulses reach the trigger input of shift register 848, until the ring counter 873 decoded at 67 via the repeat counter 805 has counted exactly 67 trigger pulses. The first 67 informations located in shift register 848 therefore will be led back circulatorily to the input of this shift register 848, whereby the reversing of flip-flop 872 to its state Q2 lifts the block on circulation. After termination of this circulation, the orderly filling of the shift register 848 is also tenninated.

Since no output of the system selector has been decoded, the 68th trigger from the simulator 801 will merely emit a signal via junction SMT, which will be counted by position counter 850 and which further shifts by one storage space the information located in shift register 848. This is made possible because a l signal appears at the output of the inverting stage 867 (output Q1 of flip-flop 872 on 1, SW 2 on When the color line associated with color 2 is being written in, the following takes place. First, the 240 informations of the color line are arrayed in the sequence 1,2,3 240 in the displacement shift register. Due to counting from 67 to 240, which corresponds to I37 triggers, on the part of the displacement counter 807, these informations will be put into the sequence 174, 175 240, 1,2 173 in the displacement shift register. The informations will be presented to the shift register 848 in this sequence and shifted to the front. Next, by counting of the ring counter from 0 to 67, one obtains that informations 174 through 240, that is, the last 67 informations, are ordered after the informations 1 through 174, again. It is to be considered, however, that the informations are not arrayed without gaps in shift register 848, since the latter is provided with a total of 520 storage cells. After circulation of 67 triggers, the informations 1,2 173 are at the end of the shift register 848, then come 380 empty locations, and finally informations 174, 175 240.

Each further trigger from simulator 801 changes the sequence or information in the shift register 848 by one trigger, since the first information is tagged on at the 68th trigger, the second information at the 69th trigger, etc.

Thus, at the I33rd trigger, the 67th infonnation is located in the shift register 848, at the 134th trigger the 68th information, and at the front. Further, the 134th trigger from simulator 801 writes in the third color line associated with the color 3, (though) delayed till the end of the circulation process by the delay stage 803,

the shift registers 501, 503 (FIG. 5) being interrogated a third time. If the third color line is located in the displacement shift register 816, displacement begins, this time amounting only to I06 triggers, since the displacement counter indicates (now) the number 134. Following displacement, the infon'nations in the displacement shift register 816 are no longer in the sequence 1,2 240, but rather in the sequence 107, 108 ...240, 1,2 106.

The informations are presented in this sequence to a shift register released by the third output of the system selector 830; the shift register is not shown in FIG. 61) but it is similar to the shift register 848. When the color line is shifted to the front of this shift register, a circulation of 134 triggers controlled by ring counter 873 begins, because the ring counter is decoded at the number 134 by comparing it with the repeat counter 805. In this manner the first I34 informations of the third color line are circulatorily returned to the input of the shift 18 register, so that upon termination of this process the first information again is at the front.

Up to the 200th trigger, the informations located in the shift registers 848 etc. are merely being shifted ahead. At the 201st trigger, the th information is located in the shift register 848 and in the next shift register the 68th information, in both cases at the front. Then the shift register associated with the fourth magnetic control system will be filled with the color line associated with color 4 and in such fashion that the informations 1,2 39 are at the front, that there be a gap of 380 empty locations and that at the end there will be the informations 40 through 240.

The following series obtains in the shift registers associated with the magnetic control systems 2,3 and 4 upon the 239th trigger or simulator 801:

for SM2: 173, 380 empty locations, 174-240, l-l72 for SM3: 106, 380 empty locations, 107-240, 1-105 for SM4: 39, 380 empty locations, 40-240, l-38 Similarly, for the 240th trigger of simulator 801:

for SM2: 380 empty locations, 174-240, 1-173 for SM3: 380 empty locations, 107-240, 1-106 for SM4: 380 empty locations, 40-240, l-39.

This table shows that upon the 240th trigger, that is, when the repeat width has been reached, no more information is found in front of any of the shift registers. But since upon the 268th trigger the fifth output of the system selector 830 is being decoded and therefore the filling of a further shift register is being initiated, the invention achieves, by means of the position counter 850, that the 380 empty locations, which according to the table above are made up of the same storage cells in every shift register, will be moved from the output side of the shift registers to their input side when the repeat width has been reached, that is, at the 240th, 480th, 720th etc. trigger from simulator 801.

The position counter 850 so monitors (FIG. 6b) the position of the empty locations; the position counter 850 is decoded via the junction R2 at its output B with respect to the repeat width, that is, for the number 240, and at its output A for the totality of the storage cells present, that is 520. The position counter 850 counts all signals emitted by the simulator 801 and issues a signal from its output 8 upon the 240th trigger, setting flip-flop 855 in state Q2 and releasing the trigger of the TG signals. These TG signals are also counted by position counter 850. After 380 TO signals, which corresponds precisely to the number of empty spaces in the shift registers or to the difference between the shift register length and the repeat width, the position counter emits a signal at its output A which resets flip-flop 855 into its state Q1 and switches off the TG trigger. Because of the TG triggers, the color lines located in the shift registers will be shifted forward by precisely 380 storage elements.

If it should happen that because of the selected system spacings of the knitting machine, an output of the system selector 830 is decoded for the number 240 or for the selected repeat width, then an appropriate selection of the delay stage 803 (FIG. 6a) is required so that the informations in the shift registers 847, 848 and 849 are first shifted forward under the control of the position counter 850 and then only they shall be filled with information.

The 268th trigger of the simulator 801 will decode the fifth output of the system selector 801 as in the previous description, so that the shift register associated with the magnetic control system SM 5 will be filled. This trigger further ensures that the 202nd information in the shift register 848, that the 135th information in the shift register associated with the magnetic control system 8M3, and that the 68th information in the shift register associated with the magnetic control system 5M4, are all located at the output.

After interrogation of the fourth color line, the 4th FZE signal is being generated, which, via the decoding stage 14 sets the logic circuit 13 on color 1. Also, because of the 268th trigger signal from simulator 801, output 5 of the system selector 830 is decoded and therefore the 5th FZA signal is being generated, on account of which a signal appears at the output of color counter 517 (FIG. 5), which resets the flip-flop into state or input Q1 and initiates another start of the magnetic tape drive. On one hand the shift registers associated with the magnetic control systems SM5-8 are thus being filled with color lines which are obtained from the second indormation block already located in the shift registers 505 and 507 (FIG. 5). On the other hand the third information block is being read out by the magnetic tape 701 and is temporarily stored in shift registers 501 and 503.

Once the first 23 shift registers have been successively filled, output'l of system selector 830 is decoded by means of the l680th trigger, and this entails that now shift register 847 will be filled. It is not the informations from the first stored information block on the magnetic tape, but those from the seventh, that will be used.

When the shift register 847 is being filled as in the case under consideration, wherein the repeat width (240) may be divided by the needle number (1680), one must take into consideration that the repeat counter 805, and hence too the displacement counter 807, emit an output signal. It follows there is a signal 0 at the output of the inverting stage 809 and hence too at the junction V2, so that the informations located in the displacement shift register are fed without displacement into the shift register 847. For the same reason (Vl 0) flip-flop 872 cannot be put into its state Q2 (output), so that circulation does not proceed either in shift register 847. Therefore shift register 847 will be filled with information in the natural sequence of 1,2,3

Because of the l680th trigger of simulator 801, the first information from the seventh information block is at the output of shift register 847; the 174th information from the first information block is at the output of shift register 848, and the 136th information from the sixth information block is at the output of shift register 849, ready for use. The informations shifted by means of the l680th trigger of simulator 801 to the outputs of those shift registers that are associated with the remaining magnetic control systems SM3-23, may be seen in FIG. 4, column R.

Finally, because of the l680th trigger from simulator 801, the output from the machine trigger counter 804 also emits an output signal. This signal resets counter 805 and 807 independently of their instantaneous readings during termination of a simulated needle cylinder revolution; the repeat must be taken away from the momentarily reached position and must begin again. The output signal from the machine trigger counter 804 also sets flip-flop 824 into its state (output) 02 and switches off simulator 801. The setting of flip-flop 824 causes emission of a signal via junction SSM which actuates the knitting machine to be controlled or the needle cylinder drive. This in turn ensures that the l68lst and all succeeding triggers are not generated by simulator 801, but rather by the mentioned synchronizer from the knitting machine. These triggers are denoted as machine triggers and are derived via the junction MT.

After the knitting machine has been started, further programming is no longer controlled by simulator 801 but rather by the knitting machine triggers, that is, by the knitting machine itself. When the simulator trigger is set for the maximum machine trigger frequency, there will be no change with respect to information and signal flux for an operating machine as compared to the above described processes.

At the 67th machine trigger, which corresponds to the 67th simulator trigger, output 2 of system selector 830 will therefore be decoded. This initiates a process in which the information located in shift register 848, which originates from the magnetic tape, is exchanged against a color line taken from the seventh information bloc k, at this time a complete machine revolution also being completed (partly simulated, partly real) with respect to the magnetic control system SM 2. Similarly, during further rotation of the needle cyclinder, a continuous exchange of the informations located in the various shift registers 847, 848 and 849 takes place, and therefore those informations are found at their outputs at any time which are requitted by the knitting machine on the next trigger. The repetition of the repeat along the width is achieved by multiple interrogation of the shift registers 847, 848 and 849.

After half of all the information blocks stored on the magnetic tape have been read out, the signal y/2 switches the storage scheme 7 from forward to backward motion (FIG. 20), so that the residual information blocks may be read out. The second y/2 signal appears at the end of the last information block; this one switches over from backward to forward motion. Because of the special arrangement of those information blocks 703 (see FIG. 2) on the magnetic tape 701, the first information block is again ready after this switching, and in this manner all of the repeat stored on the magnetic tape may be arbitrarily often repeated, without incurring time losses due to changing spools of tapes or the likes, that might affect the speed of operation of the knitting machine.

The machine triggers do play a part, via the OR circuit 802 (FIG. 6a) and the AND circuits 878, 877 and 879, in the needle cylinder rotation. For instance, the statistically available informations at the outputs of the corresponding shift registers, such as are listed in column R of FIG. 4, are interrogated by the first machine trigger, and they are fed via the AND circuits 877, 878 and 879 to the associated magnetic control systems SM1, SM 2 and SM 24. The same applies to further magnetic control systems not shown. The first machine trigger also shifts by one storage cell the information located in the shift registers, it does this via the delay stage 851, so that for example upon the second machine trigger the magnetic control system SM1 receives the second information, the magnetic control system SM2 receives the lth information and the magnetic control system SM24 receives the 137th information. The knitting machine all this time controls itself, that is, the knitting machine or the machine triggers are gener- 2 1 ating along determine the time when information available at the output of the shift registers actually will be released to begin control of the magnetic control system. The needle cylinder rotation therefore need not, as has been the case so far, be synchronized with the information carrier operation, that is, the start/stop operation of the magnetic tape.

In the example of execution of the invention as described, considerably fewer than 2 milliseconds (1 machine trigger 2 msec) are required for the exchange of a color line in shift registers 547, 548 and 549. For an exchange of an information block in the shift registers 501 through 507, given a two color repeat of 500 meshes in direction of width and a system spacing of 45 needles, about 180 milliseconds are available, and 360 milliseconds for a corresponding four-color repeat.

The purpose of the delay stages 803, 823 (FIG. 6a) and 851 (FIG. 6b) is to ensure the proper sequence of the described processes. When a machine trigger appears via the OR circuit 802 and junction SMT, the delay stage 851 first must ensure that the informations available at the outputs of shift registers 847, 848 and 849 are fed in the proper sequence to the knitting machine systems before there is release of exchange of circulation of information from one of the shift registers. The delay stage 803 provides that an output of the system selector 830 will only then be decoded, when previously the machine trigger has performed a circle around a trigger, and if necessary, when the position counter 850 has shifted the information block to the end of the shift register. Finally the delay stage 823 ensures that the TA triggers are only then released, when the FZA signal has set flip-flop 517. FIG. 7 shows another form of execution of the invention, in which the staggering or the displacement is performed in a somewhat different manner. The difference with respect to the mode of execution of FIG. 5, 6a and 6b lies in that a core storage 40 is foreseen in lieu of shift registers 847, 848 and 849 (FIG. 6b), and that the displacement is achieved by means of an address stage 44, belonging to an address register 42 of core storage 40, rather than by means of a displacement shift register 816 (FIG. 6a).

Information flux conductors are shown solid and controlling and addressing conductors are shown dotted in FIG. 7. The read-out information from the storage scheme 7, in the form of information blocks, are being readied in the temporary storage and then are fed to the input register 32 in the form of color lines. The address stage 44 is programmed by means of an imitator 829 and a system selector 830. The devices required for the control of the time sequence are located in a block 38.

The outputs of core storage 40 are connected to an output register 46, whose 24 outputs l 24 lead to the 24 magnetic control systems of the knitting machine. A return loop 48 is also foreseen, via which the information read out from the core storage 40 are written into the input register 32 and from there again into the core storage 40. The output register 46 is connected to a comparator 50 which monitors whether the proper information is at the outputs of the output register. If not, the machine is switched off.

Let it be assumed, for a better understanding of the invention, that we are dealing with a core storage with a storage-cell matrix of 24 parallel columns and 520 parallel rows, addresses 1 520 being related to rows 1 520. According to the invention, each column belongs to one of the 24 mangetic control systems, that is, each column contains all the necessary information to the particular magnetic control system when knitting a repeat width. Since during knitting all 24 magnetic control systems must be simultaneously commanded, all 24 columns of the core storage matrix will be read out in parallel, that is, for a repeat width of 240 beginning and ending with rows 1 and 240 resp. This kind of read out requires that the informations in the individual columns of the matrix are displaced precisely as described with respect to FIG. 4. Thus the displacement of the informations of the core storage matrix in the individual columns is equivalent to the displacement of the single markings on the known control films from the British Patent No. 1,160,897. Of course core storages may be used, with a matrix of 12 columns each with 1040 storage cells, each half of a column being associated with a system.

According to the invention, the displacment is achieved by means of the counters 804, 805 and 807 for machine triggers, repeats and displacement, resp., as shown in FIG. 6a and located in block 38. Differing however from the example of execution in FIG. 6a and 6b, (here) the address stage 44, controlled by imitator 829 and system selector 830 is used, in lieu of the dis placement shift register.

Address stages for core storages are sufficiently known from computer technology that it sufiices for the purposes of the invention to describe below their effects.

As for the example of execution of FIG. 6a, 6b, the starting point is that the core storage 40 is empty at the beginning of the control process, so that the knitting process proper may only be begun after all columns of the core storage matrix have been properly filled during a simulated rotation of the needle cylinder. The control process begins in such a fashion that on the 67th trigger from simulator 801, passing via the imitator 829, via the system selector 830, via the address stage 44 and the address register 42 of the storage core 40, the write-in of column 2 of the core storage matrix is released. The first information block, which is located and ready in the temporary storage 5, is interrogated by the FZA signal, with respect to color 2, so that the second color row is led via input register 32 into the second column of the core storage matrix. Since we are dealing with the 67th trigger from the simulator 801 and since the displacement counter 807 indicates this number, the command is transmitted via block 32 to the address stage 44 so that initially the first 67 rows of the second column of the core storage matrix remain empty, that is, the write-in process begins in the 68th row. When the second color rows 173rd information is placed in the 240th row of the second column, the informations 173 through 240 will then be written into the rows 1 through 67 of the second column of the core storage matrix.

At the 134th trigger from simulator 801, the displacement counter 807 indicates the number 134. Therefore the command is sent to the address stage 44 so that initially the first 134 rows of the third column of the core storage matrix shall remain empty and hence the first 106 informations of the third color row will be written into the rows through 240, whereas the information 107 through 240 will be located after that in the rows 1 through 134.

Upon termination of a simulated rotation of the needle cylinder, that is, in the example chosen, between 23 the 168th and l68lst trigger, the following picture is obtained for the core storage matrix:

Because of the l680th trigger of the simulator, or because of every succeeding machine trigger, all informations located in one row are fed into the output register 46 of the core storage 40, so that they will be interrogated upon the next machine trigger and can then be led to the magnetic control systems.

At the same time, the informations are fed back over the lead 48 to the input register 32 and from there to precisely the same storage cells of the core storage 40 from which they were read-out. in this manner, the core storage 40 may be read out in succession an arbitrary number of times. If the repeat width in the above example is 240, then the core storage 40 will be read out seven times in all during one revolution of the needle cylinder.

Since the complete revolution of the needle cylinder terminates at different times for the different magnetic control systems, the individual columns of the core storage matrix will also be filled with new informations at different times. This process corresponds to the exchange of informations in the shift registers 847, 848 and 849 of FIG. 611, so that there is no need to describe here again such a process for the core storage 40. One need merely take into account that for a core storage too, the entire operation may be adjusted by means of simultor 801 of imitator 829 and of the system selector 830 being made to fit the particular knitting machine and that the time sequence of the individual processes will be controlled by the trigger from the knitting machine.

The invention is not restricted to the examples of execution as were described, but may be modified in many ways. Thus the temporary storage of FIG. 5, in lieu of the two parallel shift register stages 501, 503 and 505, 507 may also be provided with merely one or more than two such stages, if somehow this should be more appropriate. Also, the diagrammatically shown switching elements may be replaced by corresponding equivalents.

The storage scheme 7 is shown in the example of execution as a magnetic tape storage, but many other kinds of storage such as wafers, sheets or core storages may be used. The structure of the magnetic tape storage too may be different, provided that continuous operation of the knitting machine at a frequency no less than 500 [-12 be possible. The sole essential requirement in this respect is that the informations in the shift registers 501 through 507 or their equivalents may be readied with sufficient speed.

In the example of execution of FIGS. 6a and 6b, all counters may be replaced by other devices insofar they are adapted to the particular knitting machine and insofar they make possible the required continuous exchange of informations in the main storage 847, 848

24 and 849 or 40, and also their displacement. Preferably those devices are such as to be adaptable, via the imitator 829 and the system selector 830 to various types of knitting machines.

Simulator 801 need not be powered at the knitting machine frequency. But preferably it does function at a frequency similar to the knitting machine's, so that the other devices which were installed with respect to the knitting machine frequency may also be controlled by the same trigger during the simulated first revolution of the needle cylinder.

Other kinds of storage may be used in lieu of the main storage 847, 848 and 849 or 40, even though the use of shift registers or core storages be especially appropriate.

The displacement system 8 according to the invention need not be located between the storage system 7 and the knitting machine 11 (FIG. 1). One may, for example, to so displace relative to one another the signals obtained by scanning the artists drawing 1 that the informations located in the storage 7 are already properly sequenced. In this case the color rows formed by interrogating the shift registers 50] through 507 may be fed into the main storage without any further displacement.

An equivalent control of the knitting machine may also be undertaken when the storage system 7 is provided with the control film known from the British Patent No. 1,160,897. This control film might be so scanned that first its informations will be fed into the main storage in the form of color rows and then be read-out from same by the knitting machine trigger. To that end the control film need not be continuous or in phase synchronism with respect to the machine trigger when being moved, as is known for instance from the British Patent No. 934,041, but rather it may be readout in start/stop operation at wholly arbitrary times.

The invention is not restricted to circulatory knitting machines, rather it is suited to the control of all machines that are electric ally or electronically controlled by scanning a pattern. It is particularly suitable for the control of marking devices used for the manufacture of the mentioned control films or corresponding control stripes.

The invention may be further modified by wholly omitting the storage system 7 and by obtaining directly the information blocks by scanning the artists drawing 1 or sample patterns 10, as has already been described in the applications mentioned of the same day.

The kind of control of the invention, in which a given machine trigger readies the required informations for the next machine trigger, holds advantages not only for synchronization but also for the techniques of knitting. It allows to connect the logic comparator 50 to the outputs of the output register 46 which determines prior to the ensuing machine trigger whether the proper information is ready. As an example, one may not have simultaneously all l "s or 0"s at all outputs. If the logic comparator 50 determines there is error, the machine will be switched off.

The information stored on the known control film or punched card may also be written into the shift registers 547 through 549 or into the core storage 40, if one must avoid phase locked synchronization between me dle cylinder rotation and the device scanning the control film or the punched cards. Since the informations on the control films or on the punched cards are already stored with displacement and furthermore to contain all necessary information for a complete re- 

1. A system for generating control signals for the electronic control of a multisystem color pattern reproducing machine having a plurality of electronically controllable working systems, wherein each system reproduces one predetermined color of said pattern and wherein said systems are divided into groups such that the systems of a group jointly reproduce a line of said pattern and said groups jointly and successively reproduce said pattern, comprising in combination: a. an information storage means for storing color information according to the color pattern; b. a color line deriving means for reading out said information from said information storage means and for converting said information to color lines, each color line containing in series form all information of a predetermined color in a predetermined line of said pattern; c. a working storage means coupled to said color line deriving means to receive said color lines, the number of color lines stored in said working storage corresponding at least to the number of systems; d. read-out means controlled by a first clock generator producing first clock pulses corresponding to the working speed of said color reproducing machine, said read-out means being coupled to said working storage means and said working systems for reading out said color lines and for converting said color lines to control signals, the control signals of each color line being fed to an associated working system; and e. a control circuit including color line exchanging means coupled to said color line deriving means and said working storage means for controlling exchanges of said color lines in said working storage means in a predetermined sequence, so that each system of said color pattern reproducing machine is controlled in accordance with said pattern.
 2. The system according to claim 1, including displacement means for altering the sequence of the information of said color lines in dependence on the operation sequence of said working systems and the type of color pattern reproducing machine, said displacement means being coupled in the information path between said information storage means and said working storage means.
 3. The system according to claim 2, said displacement means having a displacement shift register, the information output of said shift register being connected to its information input so that the sequence of the information of a color line derived by said color line deriving means and fed to said working storage means can be altered by first feeding one full color line into said shift register and then reading out a predetermined number of information from the output and feeding that information again into the input and then feeding said color line to said working storage means.
 4. A system according to claim 2, and further comprising means for controlling said displacement means including a repeat counter means, a displacement counter means, a system selector means and an imitator defining the type of machine, said repeat counter means, said displacement counter means, said system selector means and said imitator beinG coupled such that the sequence of the information of each color line fed to said working storage means is automatically altered in dependence on the particular working system to which the color line is fed.
 5. A system for producing control signals for the control of a multisystem knitting machine knitting loop courses and having a first clock generator producing clock pulses corresponding to the knitting speed, said knitting machine reproducing a color pattern and each system producing loops of one predetermined color of said pattern by selecting predetermined knitting needles to knit and all other needles not to knit, comprising in combination: a. an information storage means (1, 7, 10) for storing color information according to the color pattern; b. deriving means (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 501, 503, 505, 507, 13, 14, 519, 521) coupled to said information storage means to derive color lines from the color information stored in said information storage means, each color line containing in series from all information of a predetermined color in a predetermined line of said pattern; c. a working storage means (847, 848, 849, 40) coupled to said deriving means and said systems for sequentially receiving therefrom and storing the color lines, the number of color lines stored in said working storage means corresponding at least to the number of systems; d. read-out means (877, 878, 879, 844, 845, 846, 851, 852, 46) controlled by the first clock generator and coupled to said working storage means for converting said color lines to said control signals and for reading out said color lines and sequentially feeding said control signals to a particular system; e. a second clock generator (829, 830) sequentially producing series of second clock pulses each series including as many second clock pulses as there are systems, each clock pulse being related to a particular system and indicating the time at which one particular color line has been fed to that particular system; and f. exchanging means (815, 816, 819, 820, 841, 842, 843) coupled to said second clock generator means and said working storage means for exchanging a color line stored in said working storage means by a new color line stored in said information storage means and derived by said deriving means each time a second clock pulse occurs, so that each system is sequentially controlled by a plurality of color lines to reproduce the whole pattern.
 6. The system according to claim 5, said second clock generator including an imitator (829) and a system selector (830) adapting the system to different types of machines, said imitator consisting of programming plugs for different types of machines.
 7. The system according to claim 5, wherein said working storage means comprises, for each system, one shift register for recording one color line.
 8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the information outputs of said shift registers are connected to said readout means which always process the information contained in the last storage cells of said shift registers, and the clock inputs of said shift registers are coupled to said fitst clock generator
 9. The system according to claim 8, wherein each of said shift registers are provided with the same number of storage cells.
 10. The system according to claim 7, including means for connecting the information outputs of the shift registers to the information inputs for multiple read out of a color line.
 11. A system according to claim 1, wherein said working storage means comprises, for each system, one shift register having a clock input, an information input, an information output and information storage cells for recording the information of one color line, the information outputs of said shift registers being connected to said reading out means and to means for connecting the information outputs to the information inputs of said shift registers for multiple read out of color lines; and including a position counter connected to thE clock inputs of said shift registers, by which the stored information may be shifted by a given number of storage cells between two pulses of said first clock generator.
 12. The system according to claim 5, wherein said information storage means is a drawing of said pattern.
 13. The system according to claim 5, said deriving means comprising: an automatic scanning and processing means (2, 3,4) for generating information blocks by scanning said drawing; a temporary storage means for temporarily storing at least all information of one information block; and means for repeatedly reading out said temporary storage means to derive as many color lines from each information block as there are colors in said pattern.
 14. The system according to claim 5, including displacement means (816,804,805,807,827,829,830,850,873) coupled with said deriving means and said working storage means for altering the sequence of the information of said color lines as a function of the machine.
 15. The system according to claim 14, said displacement means having a displacement shift register (816) connecting said deriving means and said working storage means, the information outputs of said register being connected to its information input so that the sequence of the information of a color line can be altered by first feeding one full color line into said shift register and then reading out a predetermined number of information from the output and feeding that information again into the input.
 16. The system according to claim 5 the deriving means including a color counter and a pre-select switch, said counter and said switch being connected to automatically preselect the number of color lines to be derived from each information block.
 17. The system according to claim 5, wherein said information storage means is a magnetic tape storage (7) holding all information of the complete pattern in the form of information blocks, each information block including all information of all color lines of one particular line of the pattern and being obtained by previously scanning a drawing of said color pattern.
 18. The system according to claim 17, said magnetic tape storage including start/stop means for feeding by each start/stop cycle an information block into said temporary storage means, said start/stop means being controlled by a start key (18) and by a color counter (519) counting the number of color lines derived from each information block and producing a start signal when all color lines are derived from the temporarily stored information block.
 19. The system according to claim 5, wherein said deriving means comprises a temporary storage (501 to 507) for temporarily storing at least all information of one information block, and means for repeatedly reading out said temporary storage means to derive as many color lines from said information block as there are colors in said pattern.
 20. The system according to claim 5, said exchanging means including machine trigger counter means (804), said machine trigger counting means and said second clock generator means being coupled to said working storage means and said deriving means for controlling the exchange of a given color line such that an exchange always occurs when the associated system has terminated a loop course but before the begining of the next loop course.
 21. The system according to claim 5, including a simulator coupled to the output of said first clock generator for simulation of the pulses of said first clock generator during the first filling of said working storage means when the machine is at a standstill.
 22. The system according to claim 21, including switching means (824) coupled to a machine trigger counter for switching on said machine and for switching from said simulator to said first clock generator so that the time sequence is first controlled by said simulator and then by said clock generator.
 23. The system according to claim 5, the exchanging means including high frequency means (820) for eXchanging each color line in a time intervall which is less than that time interval between two pulses of the first clock pulse generator.
 24. The system according to claim 20, wherein said temporary storage means comprises shift registers.
 25. The system according to claim 20, wherein said temporary storage means consists of two or more parallel shift register stages into which the successive information blocks are shifted alternately.
 26. The system according to claim 5 wherein said machine is a knitting machine comprising knitting needles, said knitting machine including electronically controllable means for selecting said knitting needles.
 27. The system according to claim 5, said second clock generator including a system selector for initiating each exchange process, said system selector being coupled to said first clock generator.
 28. The system according to claim 1, wherein said working storage means is a core storage having a matrix.
 29. The system according to claim 28, wherein each color line is stored in series form in a column of said matrix, and wherein read out is performed in parallel for all columns at the same time.
 30. The system according to claim 29, including addressing means for reading in said color lines into said columns in a predetermined order.
 31. A system according to claim 30, wherein said addressing means is controlled by said displacement counter to store the information of a color line in a predetermined sequence in said columns of said matrix and a system selector means for controlling said sequences in dependence on the operation sequence of said working systems and the type of said color pattern reproducing machine.
 32. The system according to claim 28, wherein several color lines are stored in each column of said matrix, and an output register is coupled to said core storage such that said output register always records information of predetermined rows of the core storage matrix.
 33. The system according to claim 28, wherein the core storage has outputs and inputs being so connected that all readout information are again written into the same storage location so as to provide multiple interrogation of each color line.
 34. The system according to claim 29, wherein an output register is coupled to said core storage means with the outputs of said output registers being connected to a magnetic control system and wherein the statically present information in the output register is interrogated by the next pulse of said first clock generator.
 35. A system according to claim 1, said color line deriving means including a temporary storage means, the input of which is connected to said information storage means and the output of which is coupled with means to read out said temporary storage means, said temporary storage means receiving in the form of information blocks all information of a line of said color pattern and said means to read out said temporary storage means deriving said color lines as often as there are different colors in said pattern and feeding said color lines into said working storage means.
 36. The system according to claim 35, said color line deriving means including a color counter connected to a pre-select switch to automatically pre-select the number of color lines to be derived from each color block.
 37. The system accoridng to claim 35, wherein said information storage means is a drawing of said color pattern and said temporary storage means is coupled to an automatic scanning and processing means for generating information blocks by scanning said drawing, said scanning and processing means including an electro-optical scanning head for scanning said drawing and producing electrical scanning signals and further including a processing circuit connected to said scanning head for evaluating said scanning signals and for producing color signals corresponding to the pattern information, wherein the input of said temporary storage means is coupled to said processing circuit.
 38. The system according to claim 35, wherein said information storage means is a magnetic tape storage holding all the information in the form of information blocks obtained by previously scanning a drawing of said color pattern.
 39. The system according to claim 38, said magnetic tape storage including start/stop means for feeding by each start/stop cycle an information block into said temporary storage means, each start being controlled by information on said tape.
 40. The system according to claim 39, said magnetic tape storage including a start input being connected to the output of said color counter.
 41. The system according to claim 38, said magnetic tape storage including a magnetic tape on which said information blocks are stored in the form of an infinite loop so that they may be read out continously and repeatedly without rewinding the tape.
 42. A system for producing control signals for the electronic control of a multisystem knitting machine having electronically controllable knitting systems for selecting knitting needles during knitting operations, wherein each knitting system reproduces one predetermined color of said pattern and wherein said systems are divided into groups such that the knitting systems of a group jointly and successively reproduce said pattern in the form of loop courses, comprising in combination: a. an information storage means for storing color information according to the color pattern; b. a color line deriving means for reading out said information from said information storage means and for converting said information to color lines, each color line containing in series form all information of a predetermined color in a predetermined line of said pattern; c. a working storage means coupled to said color line driving means to receive said color lines, the number of color lines stored in said working storage corresponding at least to the number of knitting systems; d. read-out means controlled by a first clock generator, producing first clock pulses corresponding to the knitting speed of said knitting machine, said read-out means being coupled to said working storage means and said knitting systems for reading out said color lines and for converting said color lines to control signals, the control signals of each color line being fed to an associated knitting system, and e. a control circuit including color line exchanging means coupled to said color line deriving means and said working storage means for controlling exchanges of said color lines in said working storage means in a predetermined sequence, so that each knitting system of said knitting machine is controlled in accordance with said pattern.
 43. A system according to claim 42, said color line exchanging means controlling the exchange of a given color line such that an exchange always occurs when the assoicated system has terminated a loop course.
 44. A system according to claim 42, including a simulator connected in parallel to said first clock generator for simulation of said first clock pulses during a first filling operation of said working storage means when said knitting machine is at a stand still.
 45. The system according to claim 44, and including switching means for switching on said knitting machine and for switching from said simulator to said clock generator so that the entire time sequence of deriving said color lines, converting said color lines to control signals and feeding said control signals to said knitting systems is first controlled by said simulator and then by said clock generator.
 46. A system for generating control signals for the control of a control strip marking machine for marking a control strip adapted to control a multisystem knitting machine, said knitting machine reproducing a color pattern and having knitting systems for selecting knitting needles during knitting operations, wherein said knitting systems are controlled by scanning information from said control strip and wherein said control strip marking machine includes marking means for storing said information in the form of markings on said control strip, comprising in combination: a. an information storage means for storing color information according to the color pattern; b. a temporary storage means for receiving from said infomation storage means, in the form of information blocks, all information of a line of said color pattern; c. means for reading out said temporary storage means and for deriving color lines, each color line containing in series form all information of a predetermined color in a predetermined line of said pattern; d. a working storage means coupled to said means for reading out said temporary storage means to receive said color lines, the number of color lines stored in said working storage corresponding at least to the number of knitting systems; e. read-out means coupled to said working storage means and said marking means for reading out said color lines and for converting said color lines to control signals, said control signals being fed to said marking means; and f. color line exchanging means coupled to said temporary storage means, said means for reading out said temporary storage means and said working storage means for controlling exchanges of said color lines in said working storage means in a predetermined sequence, so that said marking means are controlled in accordance with said pattern.
 47. A system for producing control signals for the electronic control of a circular knitting machine having electronically controllable knitting systems for selecting knitting needles during knitting operations, wherein each knitting system reproduces one predetermined color of said pattern and wherein said systems are divided into groups such that the knitting systems of a group jointly and successively reproduce said pattern in the form of loop courses, comprising in combination: a. an information storage means for storing color information according to the color pattern; b. a color line deriving means for reading out said information from said information storage means and for converting said information to color lines, each color line containing in series form all information of a predetermined color in a predetermined lines of said pattern; c. a working storage means coupled to said color line deriving means to receive said color lines, the number of color lines stored in said working storage means corresponding at least to the number of knitting systems; d. read-out means coupled to said working storage means and said knitting systems for reading out said color lines and for converting said color lines to control signals, the control signals of said color lines being fed to said knitting systems; e. color line exchanging means coupled to said color line deriving means and said working storage means for controlling exchanges of said color lines in said working storage in a predetermined sequence, so that said knitting systems are controlled in accordance with said pattern; and f. displacement means coupled in the signal path between said information storage means and said knitting systems for altering the sequences of information of said color lines or of said control signals, respectively, in dependence on the distances of said knitting systems round said circular knitting machine.
 48. A system according to claim 47, wherein said information storage means is a magnetic tape storage.
 49. A system according to claim 47, including means for adapting the system to different types of color patterns and to different types of circular knitting machine.
 50. A system for generating control signals for the control of a machine for marking a control strip adapted to control a multisystem machine, said machine reproducing a color pattern and each system reproducing one predetermined color of said pattern, said machine for marking the control strip including as many marking elements as there are systems and a first clock Generator producing clock pulses corresponding to the marking speed, comprising in combination: a. an information storage means (1,7,10) for storing color information according to the color pattern; b. deriving means (2,3,4,5,6,501,503,505,507,13,519,521) coupled to said information storage means to derive color lines from the color information stored in said information storage means, each color line containing in series from all information of a predetermined color in a predetermined line of said pattern; c. a working storage means (847,848,849,40) coupled to said deriving means and said marking elements for sequentially receiving therefrom and storing the color lines, the number of color lines stored in said working storage corresponding at least to the number of marking elements; d. read-out means (877,878,879,844,845,846,851,852,46) controlled by the first clock generator of said machine and coupled to said working storage means for converting said color lines of said control signals and for reading out said color lines and sequentially feeding said control signals to a particular marking element as is necessary for knitting purposes; e. a second clock generator (829,830) sequentially producing series of second clock pulses each series including as many second clock pulses as there are systems, each clock pulse being related to a particular system and indicating the time at which one particular color line has been fed to that particular system; and f. exchanging means (815,816,819,820,841,842,843) coupled to said second clock generator and said working storage means for exchanging a color line stored in said working storage means by a new color line stored in said information storage means and derived by said deriving means each time a second clock pulse occurs, so that each marking element is sequentially controlled by a plurality of color lines to store the whole pattern on said control strip in a form as necessary for reproducing purposes.
 51. A system according to claim 50 including displacement means for altering the sequence of the information of said color lines derived by said deriving means as a function of the intervals between the systems of the particular machine to be controlled by the control strip.
 52. A system for producing control signals for the control of a multisystem circular knitting machine knitting loop courses and having a first clock generator producing clock pulses corresponding to the knitting speed, said knitting machine reproducing a color pattern and each system producing loops of one predetermined color of said pattern by selecting predetermined knitting needles to knit and all other needles not to knit, comprising in combination: a magnetic tape information storage means (7) for storing color information according to the color pattern; b. deriving means coupled to said information storage means to derive color lines from the color information stored in said information storage means, each color line containing in series form all information of a predetermined color in a predetermined line of said pattern; c. a working storage means coupled to said deriving means for sequentially receiving therefrom and storing the color lines, the number of color lines stored in said working storage means corresponding to the number of systems; d. read-out means controlled by a clock generator of said machine and coupled to said working storage means and said systems for converting said color lines to electrical control signals and for reading out said color lines and sequentially feeding said electrical control signals to a particular system for knitting one complete loop course with said color lines; e. a second clock generator sequentially producing series of second clock pulses each series including as many second clock pulses as there are systems, each clock pulse being related to a particular system and indicating the time at which one particular color line has been fed to knit at that paRticular system a complete loop course; and f. exchanging means coupled to said second clock generator means for exchanging a color line stored in said working storage means by a new color line stored in said information storage means and derived by said deriving means each time a second clock pulse occurs, so that each system is sequentially controlled by a plurality of color lines to reproduce the whole pattern, said exchanging means comprising displacement means for altering the sequence of the information of said color lines derived by said deriving means as a function of the distances between the systems of said circular knitting machine, so that each system is controlled in accordance with said color pattern.
 53. A system for producing control signals for the control of a machine having working stations and a first clock generator producing clock pulses corresponding to the working speed of the working stations, said machine reproducing line by line and point by point a color pattern and each station reproducing one predetermined color of said pattern by selecting working elements comprising in combination: a. an information storage means (1,7,10) for storing color information according to the complete color pattern; b. deriving means (2,3,4,5,6,501,503,505,507,13,14,519,521) coupled to said infomration storage means to derive color lines from the color information stored in said information storage means, each color line containing in series form all information of a predetermined color of a predetermined line of said pattern; c. a working storage means (847,848,849,40) coupled to said deriving means and said systems for sequentially recieving therefrom and temporarily storing the color lines, the number of color lines simultaneously stored in said working storage means corresponding at least to the number of systems; d. read-out means (877,878,879,844,845,846,851,852,46) controlled by the first clock generator and coupled to said working storage means for converting said color lines to said control signals and for reading out said color lines and sequentially feeding said control signals to a particular system for reproducing purposes; e. a second clock generator (829,830) sequentially producing series of second clock pulses each series including as many second clock pulses as there are stations, each clock pulse being related to a particular system and indicating the time at which one particular color line has been fed as to that particular stations and f. exchaning means (815,816,819,841,842,843) coupled to said second clock generator means and said working storage means for exchanging a color line stored in said working storage means by a new color line stored in said information storage means and derived by said deriving means each time a second clock pulse occurs, so that each station is sequentially controlled by a plurality of color lines to reproduce, the whole pattern in a desired manner.
 54. The system according to claim 53, wherein said information storage means is a storage holding all the information in the form of information blocks, each information block including all information of a complete line of said pattern. 